"I think if Chelsea and Newcastle don't want these guys to play for Nigeria then they are being unprofessional," said Eguavoen. "We are not going to take it lying down and we will have to inform FIFA about it.

"If you deny our players to play for their country you might deny Frank Lampard playing for England or Ricardo Carvalho playing for Portugal.

FIFA has set these dates aside and we must respect their decision. We are not asking for any other dates. This is a FIFA free date all over the world.

"They only have to play in London, but even if we were playing in India it would be a FIFA free date. They are not in charge, so they [the players] have to be here."

Newcastle manager Glenn Roeder earlier admitted he had asked Martins — his only fit striker — to sit out the match, saying: "It is only a friendly and Nigeria cannot insist on Oba playing, and because he has had so much football this season, I will be asking him not to play against Ghana.

"He has already played nearly 30 games for us. He has probably played more matches this season than at any time in his career.

"He is a great lad and I am sure he will understand the situation because we are a bit thin on the ground for strikers and we do not want the risk of losing him."

Newcastle, however, yesterday issued a statement yesterday saying they were not formally stopping the 22-year-old striker from joining up.

The statement read: "Newcastle United wishes to make it clear that the club has not refused Obafemi Martins permission to join up with the Nigerian squad for their friendly game with Ghana this week. The club has written to the Nigerian FA to make that clear."

However, that message had yet to filter through to Eguavoen, who also remained to be convinced that Mikel was suffering from a calf problem, as Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho claimed after Saturday's 1-0 win over Charlton.

Eguavoen added: "They are fit as far as I am concerned. Chelsea and Newcastle don't have a leg to stand on. It is a FIFA rule.

"I know Newcastle paid a lot of money for Obafemi, but that is why FIFA mark out dates to release players. So nobody has any right to hold any player back."